HKU Law Welcomes Prof. Weilin Xiao

Welcome to Prof. Weilin Xiao, who joins the Faculty of Law as an Assistant Professor.

Weilin Xiao’s academic interests include family law, comparative law, and legal history, with a focus on the East Asian region. In 2021, Weilin’s paper, “Expansion and Restriction: A Comparative Study of Modernization of Family Laws in Japan and China,” was awarded the Colin B. Picker Graduate Prize by the American Society of Comparative Law.

His J.S.D. dissertation, currently undergoing revision for publication as a monograph, concerns the divergent approaches toward modernizing family laws in Japan and China. Through a comparative perspective, Weilin seeks to answer why Japan and China coordinated legal transplantation and their own customary family laws differently, and how such choices shaped the modernization of those countries in the twentieth century.

Weilin obtained his J.S.D. degree from Yale Law School in 2024, following his LL.M. degree earned in 2019. Weilin was a Yale Legal History Forum Fellow in 2023. During the 2022–2023 academic year, Weilin was a Yale Fox International Fellow at the School of Law, Waseda University. He spent the 2019–2020 academic year as a Visiting Researcher at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo, under the International Dissertation Research Fellowship awarded by the Yale MacMillan Center. Prior to Yale, Weilin completed his LL.B. and first LL.M. degree at Peking University.

"Want a Divorce? In China, Try, Try Again" (Frank He's Interview on Sixth Tone)

Want a Divorce? In China, Try, Try Again
by 
Cai Yineng
Published at Sixth Tone
26 November 2021

In 2004, while conducting fieldwork at a local court in southern China, legal scholar He Xin struck up a casual conversation with a judge. On the subject of challenges he faced in the job, the judge grumbled about his law school education, which he characterized as focused more on teaching how the law was written in books, rather than the “law in action.” “Why did no professor mention that, in divorce cases for instance, Chinese courts had made a habit of rejecting almost all first attempts to file?” the judge asked. “It’s not until they file again that the petition will be processed.”
     The conversation started He on a decade-long journey through the weeds of Chinese divorce law. The product of these efforts, Divorce in China: Institutional Constraints and Gendered Outcomes, was published by New York University Press this year. In the book, He draws on a wide range of empirical evidence from court audits and judge interviews to demonstrate how the enforcement of China’s Marriage Law — the first law passed after the Communist Party of China founded the People’s Republic in 1949 — has diverged from its original intention of protecting women’s rights to marry and divorce. Responsible for handling cases efficiently and maintaining social stability, judges often choose to broker a deal that can be accepted by both parties, rather than issue a ruling that holds one or the other responsible. In practice, this has led to drawn-out legal proceedings, the trivialization of serious problems like domestic violence, and an inability or unwillingness to protect women’s custody rights. ...Click here to read the full article.

Daisy Cheung on Bringing the Adult Guardianship Regime in Line with the UNCRPD: The Chinese Experience (International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family)

"Bringing the Adult Guardianship Regime in Line with the UNCRPD: The Chinese Experience"

Daisy Cheung

International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, Volume 35, Issue 1, 2021, ebab016, https://doi.org/10.1093/lawfam/ebab016

Published on 9 July 2021

Abstract: This article examines the Chinese experience with adult guardianship, focusing in particular on the regimes in Hong Kong and China. As jurisdictions in which the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (‘UNCRPD’) applies, a key question is whether the adult guardianship regimes in these jurisdictions can be considered compliant with the principles of the UNCRPD, specifically those in Article 12. The adult guardianship regimes in both jurisdictions are in essence substitute decision-making regimes and are therefore not consistent with the interpretation of Article 12 by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, or what is described as the ‘strong interpretation’ in this article. The question remains, however, as to whether they might be nonetheless considered compliant with what is described in this article as the ‘weak interpretation’. This article explores supported decision-making, the concept of capacity and the existence and sufficiency of safeguards in each of the two regimes, concluding that neither regime can be considered compliant even using the weak interpretation of Article 12. Reflections on the way forward are discussed.

New Book by Frank He: Divorce in China: Institutional Constraints and Gendered Outcomes (NYU Press)

Divorce in China: Institutional Constraints and Gendered Outcomes

Xin He

NYU Press

Published in January 2021

304 pp.

Description: Why are women still at a disadvantage in Chinese divorce courts?

Despite the increase of gender consciousness in Chinese society and a trove of legislation to protect women, why are Chinese women still disadvantaged in divorce courts? Xin He argues that institutional constraints to which judges are subject, a factor largely ignored by existing literature, play a crucial role. Twisting the divorce law practices are the bureaucratic incentives of courts and their political concerns for social stability. Because of these concerns, judges often choose the most efficient, and safest, way to handle issues in divorce cases. In so doing, they allow the forces of inequality in social, economic, cultural, and political areas to infiltrate their decisions. Divorce requests are delayed; domestic violence is trivialized; and women’s child custody is sacrificed. The institutional failure to enforce the laws has become a major obstacle to gender justice.

     Divorce in China is the only study of Chinese divorce cases based on fieldwork and interviews conducted inside Chinese courtrooms over the course of a decade. With an unusual vantage point, Xin He offers a rare and unfiltered view of the operation of Chinese courts in the authoritarian regime. Through a socio-legal perspective highlighting the richness, sophistication, and cutting-edge nature of the research, Divorce in China is as much an account of Chinese courts in action as a social ethnography of China in the midst of momentous social change.

Praise: 

• Xin He’s book is a monumental achievement— drawing on close observation of courts in two very different regions of China as well as a deep engagement with a broad range of scholarly literature, both China specific and more general, about gender, judging, authoritarianism and much more. Divorce in China will be a classic, both as concerns its immediate subject, and state and society in China in general. ~William P. Alford, Jerome A. and Joan L. Cohen Professor of East Asian Legal Studies, Harvard Law School
• An excellent and absorbing examination, based in substantial part on fieldwork sources, of the handling of divorce cases in China today. Xin He builds on his earlier impressive analyses of divorce litigation and gender to offer very important insights into law and gender in the People's Republic. In this important book he concludes that, sadly, the divorce decision-making process in and around the courts has tended to buttress rather than relieve long-standing prejudices against women in contemporary Chinese society. This study is essential reading for all those concerned with social and legal developments in the PRC today. ~Michael Palmer, University of London

Impact:

Professor He's book was featured in a story in The Economist on 27 May 2021 in an article titled "Chinese divorce courts are places of peril for women".

Interview with HKU Law Recipients of RGC Prestigious Fellowship in Humanities and Social Sciences

In 2019, two senior scholars of HKU's Faculty of Law were awarded the RGC Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship (HSSPF). Professor Johannes Chan was awarded HK$508,949 to study constitutional review and judicial independence under one country, two systems, asking whether the two systems are converging or diverging. Professor Frank He was awarded HK$494,000 to further his research on gendered divorce litigation in China. HKU Legal Scholarship Blog's Ivy Lai caught with both scholars to find out how they are progressing with their projects.

Katherine Lynch on Hong Kong’s Children’s Proceedings (Parental Responsibility) Bill: The Need for Further Reform and Multi-Disciplinary Collaboration (forthcoming journal article)

"Hong Kong’s Children’s Proceedings (Parental Responsibility) Bill: The Need for Further Reform and Multi-Disciplinary Collaboration"

Katherine Lynch

Canadian Journal of Family Law

forthcoming

Abstract: Many comprehensive reviews of family justice systems have been undertaken in common law jurisdictions over the past 20 years, all seeking to provide more meaningful affordable access to justice for families and children. Hong Kong is also under pressure to enact legislative reforms originally proposed in 2002-2005 which deal with children’s matters and more broadly, with family and matrimonial issues. Legislative reform was anticipated when the Government announced the long awaited Children’s Proceedings (Parental Responsibility) Bill (“Children’s Bill”) in 2015. After significant public consultation, however, the Government announced in 2018 that it would delay implementation of this draft legislation. Unfortunately, Hong Kong is still governed by an out-dated and confusing family law system that is failing its children and families. While family law reform remains stalled in Hong Kong, other jurisdictions are reviewing their family justice systems and have introduced new family laws. The federal Government of Canada and the province of Manitoba have recently enacted new family legislation. Singapore and the UK enacted family law reforms in 2014 with the UK now considering further extensive reforms. Scotland, Australia and New Zealand are all currently in the midst of comprehensive family justice reviews.

     This article evaluates the need to reform Hong Kong’s family justice system. Particular focus is on promoting children’s best interests, ensuring children’s voices are heard, providing support to high conflict families, addressing family violence issues and enhancing child support services. The provisions of the draft Children’s Bill are analysed and the current lack of comprehensive family justice reform discussed. The Government’s cautious approach to legislating doctrinal reform away from a “custody, care and control” and “access” approach to that of “parental responsibility” is reviewed. Suggestions for further revision are made, with reference to comparative models of legislative reform and best measures and practices. As in many jurisdictions, the challenge in Hong Kong is transforming the rhetoric of children’s participation into successful effective practice. Some Judiciary-led initiatives are discussed, along with “views of the child” reports and independent child advocates. The importance of providing multidisciplinary family support measures assisting children and families going through separation and divorce is considered. Finally, the creation of a formal independent “Hong Kong Family Justice Commission” is proposed to implement effective and timely family law reform and to help integrate more comprehensive multidisciplinary responses and services.

New Book: Hotten and Ho on Family and Divorce Law in Hong Kong (Keith Hotten & Dennis Ho)

Hotten and Ho on Family and Divorce Law in Hong Kong

General Editors: Keith Hotten and Dennis Ho

LexisNexis

November 2018

Description: This new looseleaf service (3 binders) is the first work of its kind in Hong Kong primarily aimed at solicitors and barristers who practice family law. It is a comprehensive, practical and critical account of the law drafted from the viewpoint of experienced practitioners, which covers all major aspects of family law including children, marriage and divorce, ancillary relief, ADR, costs, enforcement, injunctions, legal aid and appeals. It also includes comprehensive collection of annotated ordinances, subsidiary legislation and other practical reference materials which help practitioners with their practice.  Product highlights

• The first ever looseleaf family law publication in Hong Kong.
• Drafted from the viewpoint of reputable practitioners, including the Principal Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong and the Chairman of the Family Law Committee of the Law Society of Hong Kong.
• Useful commentary supplemented by relevant annotated ordinances and subsidiary legislation, practical forms and precedents, and clear checklists.

HKU Law Faculty Awarded Four KE Impact Project Awards 2017/18

The University of Hong Kong's Knowledge Exchange (KE) Funding Scheme for Impact Projects supports (A) projects that have the potential to create social, economic, environmental or cultural impacts for industry, business or the community by building on expertise or knowledge in the University; and (B) projects designed to collect evidence for corroboration and evaluation of impacts. Engagement projects that aim to benefit non-academic communities beyond Hong Kong are strongly encouraged.  

     The Faculty of Law was successful in obtaining four awards in the 2017/18 round of funding, each in the amount of HK$100,000.  Congratulations to Dora Chan, Katherine Lynch, Anne Cheung and Richard Wu.  The details of their projects are described below:

Ms Dora Chan 
E-package of DIY Residential Tenancy Agreement 
The proposed project aims to provide the public community with a template residential tenancy agreement and a set of useful guidelines (including stamping and registration procedures) on how to enter into a valid residential tenancy agreement. Members of the public can then use and adapt the template to independently enter into a tenancy agreement for their residential homes, an important document that has a significant impact on their daily lives, without the costs and trouble of engaging a lawyer. The main objective is to provide free legal support to the community and to encourage knowledge exchange on tenancy matters. 

Ms Katherine Lynch 
Evaluation of the Children’s Issues Forums & Legal Reform of Child and Family Law & Policy in Hong Kong 
This project aims to collect evidence for corroboration and evaluation of impacts arising from the research and knowledge exchange project, “Children’s Issues Forums & Legal Reform of Child and Family Law in Hong Kong”, which created a multidisciplinary forum enhancing policy and legal reform for children’s issues in Hong Kong. The project will evaluate through quantitative and qualitative measures the impact of the project on increasing public awareness of children’s issues, changing legal policy on and creating pressure for law reform in Hong Kong’s child and family justice system. 

Professor Anne Cheung 
Hong Kong SAR Treaties e-Library 
The proposed project aims to provide free access to legal information for the public in Hong Kong by building a one-stop comprehensive and electronically searchable database of treaties and international agreements applied to the Hong Kong SAR in Hong Kong Legal Information Institute (HKLII). The key objective is to support the community and engage in knowledge exchange.

Dr Richard Wu 
Engaging Local School Teachers with Common Law Concepts and Values Through Experiential Learning 
This project is a pioneering interdisciplinary collaboration in common law education for local school teachers between academics from HKU Law and Social Science Faculties as well as academics from two other local universities. On basis of the project team members’ previous teaching and research projects on common law education for ‘non-law’ students and experiential learning in law, as well as teacher education, this project will engage local school teachers with common law concepts and values through experiential learning like case discussion, personal sharing by senior lawyers, and visual media . The project attempts to impact local school teachers by promoting their understanding of the common law system in Hong Kong and enhance their awareness of general common law concepts and specific common law values like justice and equality. 

Katherine Lynch on Multidisciplinary Cooperation in Child and Family Justice in Hong Kong (new book chapter)

"The Need for Multidisciplinary Cooperation in Child and Family Justice in Hong Kong"

Katherine Lynch

in Anne Scully-Hill, Sala Sihombing and Katherine Lynch (eds), Reforming Hong Kong's Child & Family Justice System (CUHK Press, 2016) ch 10.

Introduction: Hong Kong is facing significant pressure for meaningful reform of its child and family justice system to ensure that it serves the needs of Hong Kong children and families. The recent death of five-year old Yeung Chi-wai at home by ingestion of lethal amounts of crystal methamphetamine drugs (despite an earlier decision to remove him from his home) is but one tragic example of the deficiencies in Hong Kong’s child and family justice system. Speakers at a recent May 2016 meeting in Legislative Council highlighted the flaws in Hong Kong’s existing child protection system, including: outdated child protection laws, no legal duty to investigate cases of abuse or assess victims and make required provisions, lack of accountability and enforceability of the multidisciplinary case conference mechanism, lack of adequate social work resources and chronic shortages in residential homes and foster case for children in need.

     The sad death of Yeung Chi-wai emphasizes the pressing need for multidisciplinary collaboration and reform of Hong Kong’s child and family justice system and the introduction of new legislation that adequately protects children. Hong Kong’s Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma Tao-li has also emphasized that the family system in Hong Kong must ensure that it is accessible, fair, efficient and provides a simpler modernized process for contested family and matrimonial cases. In May 2015 the Chief Justice’s Working Party accepted 136 proposals for procedural reform, including a single set of self-contained family justice procedural rules. More recently, in November 2016, Hong Kong’s Labour & Welfare Bureau in consultation with the Department of Justice, Home Affairs Bureau, Social Welfare Department (SWD), Judiciary and other relevant departments, prepared the long awaited draft “Children Proceedings (Parental Responsibility) Bill” (the Children’s Bill) for public consultation. 

     The public consultation for the Children’s Bill highlights the serious implementation gap that exists between the extensive ideas for reforming Hong Kong’s child and family justice laws and actual implementation of that change. Many Hong Kong Law Reform Reports have recommended significant substantive and procedural change but until the announcement of the Children’s Bill in November 2016 very little legislative reform has been implemented. These reform reports highlight that vulnerable children and families dealing with separation and divorce are not merely encountering legal problems with social elements but, rather, these are profound social problems with one or more legal elements. In order to improve the experience of children and families in this context, a broader multidisciplinary system must be established rather than focusing primarily on the formal justice system. While some multistakeholder approaches have been established in Hong Kong, for example, the establishment of the Family Council in 2007 and the Comprehensive Child Development Service in West Kowloon in 2005, more formal collaborative inter-departmental measures need to be introduced in Hong Kong. This chapter deals with the need to create formal systemic multi-disciplinary processes and structures with a broad approach to collaboration and consultation with Hong Kong’s child and family justice system and considers comparative approaches in the UK and Canada as possible reform models.

New Book: Reforming Hong Kong's Child & Family Justice System (CUHK Press)

Reforming Hong Kong's Child & Family Justice System
Editors: Anne Scully-Hill, Sala Sihombing and Katherine Lynch
Chinese University of Hong Kong Press
November 2016, 408 pp

Book Description: This book presents a collection of papers from the 3rd Children’s Issues Forum held in Hong Kong in November 2015 focusing on reform of Hong Kong’s child and family justice system by integrating legal, comparative and multi-disciplinary approaches. Distinguished local and overseas jurists, legal practitioners and academics offer insights and perspectives on a range of issues affecting children, including: commentary on the proposed introduction of a new Children’s Ordinance in Hong Kong; the endemic problem of children living in poverty in Hong Kong; the exclusion and marginalization suffered by children in Hong Kong society; improving access to justice for Hong Kong children and allowing their voices to be heard; promoting the concept of parenting responsibilities in place of custody; reforming children’s dispute resolution procedures to establish more collaborative less adversarial process options; the important role of research in nurturing children and youth; and the need for increased multidisciplinary and inter-agency cooperation and collaboration in child and family justice systems. Comparative perspectives on child centric family justice reforms and policy developments are offered from leading jurists from Australia, Canada, Singapore, Israel, Macau and China.

Keith Hotten Discusses "The Battlegrounds of Divorce" (HKU Bulletin)

"The Battlegrounds of Divorce"
HKU Bulletin
October 2016, pp 7-8

'Blameless divorce' has been the guiding principle in UK law and by extension Hong Kong since the 1970s: let couples divorce, do not ask why, and focus on the legal division of assets and custody of children. It is meant to take some of the pain out of a marriage breakup, but as Dr Keith Hotten of the Department of Professional Legal Education explains, “the devil is in the details”.

     Dr Hotten wrote the leading textbook on Hong Kong marital law and, as a barrister of 25 years in Hong Kong and the UK, has seen divorces mushroom here, with the number of petitions granted more than doubling since the mid-1990s to about 23,000 a year. He has also been at the sharp end when it all goes wrong.

     “Judges would like agreement and the vast majority of cases are agreed. But the problem is that matrimonial law, unlike nearly all other types of civil proceedings, is highly emotional. You have cases where husbands and wives hate each other and won’t give an inch. They fight over the dog, over a worthless piece of pottery, they will fight over everything. Some of them also have lots of money and use the courts to litigate. And there’s the rub,” he said.

     When there is an unwillingness to back down and the case goes to trial, it can take 18 months to two years to get a few days in court to hear the case – such is the backlog in the courts. By contrast, couples willing to go through mediation can have their Decree Absolute granted by the court within a few months, although even that overburdens the judicial system because of the sheer number of divorce petitions each year.

     Those who insist on getting their day in court must be willing to pay. “People who don’t have a lot of money can’t afford to litigate,” Dr Hotten said. “Middle class couples may have more to argue about and one of them might get legal aid, but it will still cost a lot of money. You’ve got family lawyers charging HK$6,000 an hour, and you can see people fighting over HK$20 million, which is not much given the price of homes in Hong Kong. You could spend HK$10 million on lawyers if you spend two years litigating to trial. Multimillionaires with money to burn don’t care about the costs, but they are clogging up the courts.”... Click here to read the full article.

HKU Law Hosts International Conference on Surrogacy (8-9 Sept 2016)

The Centre for Medical Ethics & Law

of the University of Hong Kong

in conjunction with 

The Centre for Law, Medicine and Life Sciences, 

University of Cambridge

are pleased to announce a conference on

Eastern and Western Perspectives on Surrogacy

Friday & Saturday, 9-10 September 2016

Wang Gungwu Theatre

Graduate House

The University of Hong Kong

With the advances in artificial reproductive techniques, and an increasingly globalised world, surrogacy has gone from a niche practice to a global market, raising questions of parenthood, conflict of laws, and the commercialisation of the birth process. While there have been comparative studies undertaken concerning approaches to surrogacy from Europe and "Western" jurisdictions, there is gap in the literature with regard to the approach international surrogacy in Asia (and indeed Africa). As such, this conference will bring together academics from both Eastern and Western jurisdictions in order to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the confluences and tensions between the way in which surrogacy is approached in these two regions.

Topics: 

• Comparative perspectives on surrogacy from experts from Australia, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, USA 
• The Process of Law Reform (Law Commissioner, England and Wales) 
• Judicial perspectives from past and present judges from Australia, England and Germany 

Keynote Speakers: Sir Mark Hedley (retired High Court Judge, England and Wales), Chief Justice John Pascoe (Federal Court of Australia)

Speakers: Walter Pintens, Anatol Dutta, Frank Klinkhammer, Claire Fenton-Glynn, Mary Keyes, Debra Wilson, Debbie Horsten, Rhona Schuz, Olga Khazova, June Carbone, Prabha Kotiswaran, Daisy Cheung, Terry Kaan, Chih-Hsing Ho, Soraj Hongladarom, Shinichiro Hayakawa, Nick Hopkins

Moderators: Esther Farnos Amoros, Marcus Dearle, Matthew Jolley, Johannes Chan, Azan Marwah, Spencer Clarke, Jens M Scherpe

Project Leaders: Jens M Scherpe, Claire Fenton-Glynn and Terry Kaan

Information & Registration: +(852) 3917 1845; cmel@hku.hk.  Registration here

Keith Hotten's Co-Authored 'Hong Kong Family Court Practice' Cited by the Court of First Instance

Congratulations to Keith Hotten whose co-authored practitioners' text, Hong Kong Family Court Practice, 2nd edn, was cited with approval by the Court of First Instance in the case, C v N (unreported, HCMP154/2016, 16 March 2016).  Madam Justice Au-Yeung cited the text for its statement of the modified principles of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction applicable to the case (see [15]).  The case concerned a mother who had taken her two children from Taiwan, where they resided with their father, to Hong Kong.  The father brought the application for custody and return of the children to Taiwan.  Dr Hotten's text was published in June 2015 by LexisNexis Butterworths.  More recently, the text was cited in DCB v AB (unreported, HCMP 2173/2014, 28 July 2017) fn 4.

Katherine Lynch on Children's Dispute Resolution in Hong Kong (Cardozo J Conflict Resln)

"Reform of Family Justice: Children's Dispute Resolution in Hong Kong"
Katherine Lynch
Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution
Spring 2016, Vol. 17, Issue 3, pp. 909-936

The last twenty years have witnessed a transformation of family justice systems across the common law world, featuring particular emphasis on ensuring that the best interests of children are protected when resolving family disputes. The evolving paradigm has shifted away from resolving family disputes in formal courtrooms via a litigious process that is viewed as lengthy, slow, complex, expensive, and far too adversarial, particularly when children are involved. In response to these challenges, many family procedural reforms, such as modifying court rules to accommodate more informal and flexible processes and expanding judicial roles to provide greater case management and settlement facilitation, have been introduced within the global common law community. More non-adversarial approaches to dispute resolution have developed, with increased use of informal out-of-court dispute resolution--processes often referred to collectively as "alternative dispute resolution" or "ADR" processes. Increasingly, disputes involving children are being handled through more informal, non-adversarial processes like mediation and collaborative practice. Prevention and early resolution of disputes are said to reduce the detrimental effect of conflict on children. The need to protect the best interests of children is now an important feature of family justice reform. The central focus is on providing better, more effective ways of determining what is in the children's best interests and providing children with the opportunity to be heard and to participate in proceedings affecting them - either directly or through a representative... Click here to download the full article.

New Books: International Perspectives on Disputes about Children and Child Protection (2 Volumes)

International Perspectives on Disputes about Children and Child Protection Collected Essays on Parental Responsibility and Children’s Dispute Resolution (Vol.1)
Edited by Katherine Lynch and Anne Scully-Hill
Chinese University Press
2015/11, 248 pp.

Description: The essays in Volume 1 focus on the substantive law relating to the child-parent relationship in terms of custody and access and on procedural frameworks adopted around the world to resolve disputes arising between parents in relation to their children. The first group of essays offers a comparative analysis of the paradigm shift occurring in post-divorce child law away from notions of custody, care and control to that based on “parental responsibility” in diverse jurisdictions such as England, Hong Kong, New Zealand, China and Europe. In the second section, essays focus on the procedural framework within which disputes relating to parenting and care of children post-divorce may be resolved, with particular focus on the development of specialized children’s dispute resolution procedures in various jurisdictions. The final essays highlight the progressive work of the Hong Kong Judiciary in introducing many procedural reforms in family law and children’s dispute resolution (with many involving a greater use of ADR processes), but also lament the lack of legislative reform in family justice. Volume 1 concludes by focusing on the need for greater empirical research and collection of data to allow for better evidence-based and informed policy making in family justice and child law reform in Hong Kong.

International Perspectives on Disputes about Children and Child Protection Collected Essays on Preventing Abuse, Parental Responsibilities and Empowering Children (Vol.2) 

Edited by Katherine Lynch and Anne Scully-Hill

Chinese University Press

2015/11, 236 pp.

Description: The essays in Volume 2 provide insights on the serious problems of child abuse and child sex trafficking in Hong Kong and internationally and focus on the need for effective child advocacy and protection. The first group of essays discuss the incidence and prevention of child abuse and child sex trafficking and highlight the urgent need for more empirical research and quantitative data to gauge the real extent of child abuse and to help calculate the huge financial costs of child maltreatment to society. The need for a coordinated multi-disciplinary community based approach to preventing and treating child victims of abuse and sex trafficking is discussed. The consequences of emotional abuse of children in high conflict separation and parental alienation cases are also considered. The essays in the second section focus on parental responsibilities, empowering children and effective child advocacy. The inappropriateness of a “rights based” discourse for matters of parents and children is analyzed, stressing the new paradigm for parent child relationships reframed as “parental responsibilities”. Allowing children to express themselves and to directly participate in proceedings involving them is discussed. Volume 2 concludes by focusing on the need for effective child advocacy and policy formulation through the appointment of independent Children’s Commissioner in Hong Kong.

     Click here to view the table of contents from both books.  To follow the impact of the Children's Issues Forum, click here.

Hong Kong Family Court Practice, 2nd Edition (New Book by Keith Hotten et al)

Hong Kong Family Court Practice, 2nd edition
Keith Hotten, Azan Marwah, Shaphan Marwah
LexisNexis Butterworths
June 2015, 1,582 pp.

Description: Since its original publication in 2010, Hong Kong Family Court Practice has become required reading for all levels of lawyers and judges who are engaged in family practice in Hong Kong. It is a comprehensive, practical and critical account of the law, drafted from the viewpoint of experienced practitioners.

      The second edition expands the commentary on all areas of family law, including matrimonial, adoption and family proceedings in the Family Court; specialist High Court family proceedings such as wardship; and care and protection proceedings before the Juvenile Court. New content includes all-new chapters on costs, legal aid and alternative dispute resolution, as well as separate chapters on domestic violence and financial property injunctions.

     Hong Kong Family Court Practice remains the only one-stop comprehensive collection of reference materials in its field, containing not only primary sources (Ordinances, Practice Directions, and international law), but also practice and procedure checklists, key cases, useful websites and a guide to addressing judicial officers in family proceedings.